Hola Todos!

Hola todos!

I hope everyone is doing well. I have been doing great since my last email. Seriously ten-fold better. The first two days were super super hard for me, I was really stressed about the spanish and just everything in general was really nerve racking. Those were some of the hardest and most stressful days of my life. My companion said that at night while I was sleeping he would hear me sleep talking saying, "I don't want to do this.. I don't want to do this.." over and over again. Haha. But after the first week, I've been able to calm down a lot and I am so so happy to be here now and I'm loving the MTC! The spanish of course is still really hard, but I am learning way quick everyday. The amount that my spanish has improved since day one is incredible! I am LOVING learning spanish, it is such a fun and addicting thing to learn to me! I also am loving the guys in my district that I share a room with. We have 6 guys in my apartment with 1 shower and 1 bathroom. It's tough for everyone to get a shower in the morning, but we manage. After a few days of being with each other, we all become best friends. I love these guys, I couldn't ask for a better district. In our free time at night when we get home from class we all just go in a room and have really fun conversations. And my companion is also amazing, I am so blessed to have him as my companion. We are both so much more focused than the others and we think the same way, and we are both fast paced and efficient in all we do. If I didn't have him as my MTC companion, I think I would be a lot more stressed out. So I am super grateful for my companion and district. The hermanas (sisters) in our district are also really awesome and fun. I can definitely see the Lord's hand in my life with the way he blessed me with this wonderful district, I know that he knew exactly what I needed, and he gave it to me. I am really grateful.

 

All we do all day is have class. Each class is like 3-4 hours long. We have 1 spanish class a day, 1 class where we have a personal study/companion study/language study, and 1 class period where we attempt to teach an investigator in spanish. But of course, we don't know spanish yet and we butcher it, but we try our best to say the things we can. They try to teach us spanish here at the MTC by immersion, and it works. It is SO HARD and frustrating, but I can't believe how quickly i've been learning spanish. I think i'm catching up to the level that all the kids that took like spanish 3 and 4 in high school are at.

 

We go to MTC devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday and they are AMAZING. I've learned that if i'm going to want people to sincerely pray, sincerely read the book of Mormon, and truly believe that God is really there, I have to completely believe it myself first. I have to be my own first convert. So i'm working on having undoubting faith in my Heavenly Father

 

Today is our district's P day, so we got to go to the Provo temple and do an endowment session, it was great. I have loved my first P day, it's been so relaxing and nice to get stuff taken care of.

So it's been really hard at first, but it has been so rewarding at the same time. I love being here in the MTC!!! I love my district, we have so much fun! And it's amazing to learn spanish so fast. I am doing really well now, I'm liking it a lot. I hope you guys are all doing good! I love you all!

 

Elder Miles

 

 

First Email Home

My first few days here have been good, and at the same time really challenging for me. In our classes, the teacher only speaks spanish, that is it. If I hadn't taken two years of spanish in middle school, I would be completely lost. It is really hard to understand what my teacher is saying. All the other missionaries in my district took more spanish than me in high school, so I feel behind, but I am learning really quickly. We don't have spanish lessons, we don't learn spanish here. We have lessons about the gospel in spanish, and we're learning simply how to preach the gospel, in spanish. So we are expected to pick it up as we go, and it's really hard for me. Sometimes I feel really stressed about learning spanish, and other times I feel really good about how much I have already learned and how quickly i'm learning. I know I need to focus on the positive.

My companion's name is Elder Brown, he was the SBO president at Bingham last year. He is also going to Resistencia, everyone in my district is. I am super grateful that i have him as my companion, him and I get along really well. We think the same way about things and we like to teach the same way too.

We are already being immersed into teaching REAL investigators, COMPLETELY in spanish. It is so hard because I don't know any spanish and we have to teach an entire lesson in spanish! It's hard right now, but I know that it will get better as I start to learn more spanish. It is really stressful because there are so many things we need to do in such little time. We have to read so many things, plan lessons, write talks, email or branch presidents, it is a lot. But I know I will get more use to it as I am here longer. It's hard right now, but it will get better, I am sure of it! I am just trying to do the best I can at all times. I just try focusing on doing my best at whatever I am doing at the moment. I know the Lord will do the rest.

I will have more time to write you guys on tuesday! I will send you a full email telling you all about everything I am doing here. But for now, I am really happy being here, i am learing a lot really fast. I love you guys, talk to you again on Wednesday!

Elder Miles